Page 138 - A History of Siam

A HISTORT OF SIAM
132
at once to attack the Crown
proceeded Ava, leaving
Prince as Regent at Hanthawadi.
Prince Naresuen was ordered to assist in this
expedition,
and Nanda Bhureng thought the occasion favourable for
rid of a man who showed of a
getting signs becoming
dangerous enemy. He therefore instructed two Peguan
nobles to meet the Siamese Prince on the frontier and
accompany him into Burma. While on the march, they
were to find an opportunity to murder him.
Prince Naresuen met these two nobles at Miiang
After the intended assassins
K'reng. meeting him,
were touched by his youth and his gallant bearing ;
their consciences revolted their infamous
against task,
and they divulged the plot to the Prince.
Prince Naresuen then called a meeting of all his
with the officials
Generals, together principal Peguan
in the district, and openly declared to them that he
renounced, on behalf of his father, Siam's allegiance to
Burma. This important declaration was made at MUang
in the month of
K'reng May 1584.
Most of the population along the border joined Prince
Naresuen, and he proceeded to Hanthawadi at the head
of a considerable force, and laid siege to the city. He
shortly afterwards learned, however, that Nanda Bhureng
had defeated the Prince of Ava, and was returning to
Hanthawadi. Not as in a condition to
being, yet,
encounter a victorious army, instead of, as he had hoped,
a routed one, he returned to Siam, taking with him a large
number of The of these were
prisoners. majority
Siamese who had been captured by the Burmese in
previous wars, and forced to settle in Pegu.
The King of Burma, incensed at these proceedings,
at once a force, commanded the Crown
despatched by
Prince, to pursue the Siamese. Prince Naresuen utterly